Five Cuyahoga County corrections officers indicted on charges of assault, tampering with records

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CLEVELAND-- A grand jury indicted five Cuyahoga County Corrections Center officers for three separate incidents, the Ohio Attorney General's Office announced on Monday.

The jail has been the subject of recent investigations by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections and the U.S. Marshals Service for its treatment of inmates.

“We have been cooperating and will continue to cooperate with authorities," a county spokeswoman said.

(Photos courtesy: Cuyahoga County)

Idris-Farid Clark and Robert P. Marsh were indicted for a July 16 incident. The attorney general's office said Clark sprayed an inmate, who was in a restraint chair, with pepper foam. Marsh is accused of assaulting the inmate.

Martin Devring is charged with tampering with records, dereliction of duty and interfering with civil rights. He was the corrections officer on duty on Aug. 28, 2018 when an inmate was in medical distress. According to the Ohio Attorney General's Office, he failed to secure a portion of the facility then falsified the records.

That inmate, identified as Joseph Arquillo, was pronounced dead at MetroHealth Medical Center later that afternoon, according to the indictment.

"Instead of providing or seeking medical attention to Joseph Arquillo, who lay motionless on the floor next to a shelving unit, the defendant kicked a cot Arquillo was not laying on never checking on the motionless Arquillo," the indictment said.

In the most-recent case, Nicholas D. Evans and Timothy M. Dugan are accused of using excessive and unreasonable force on an inmate in a restraint chair. Investigators said the inmate was later diagnosed with a concussion.

Both are charged with felonious assault, unlawful restraint and interfering with civil rights. Evans is also charged with tampering with evidence.

U.S. Marshals said there were six deaths at the jail between June and October 2016, and seven inmates died between June 10, 2018 and Oct. 2, 2018. The state also determined the facility did not comply with certain standards.

According to a lawsuit filed against Cuyahoga County and top officials late last year, 55 people attempted to take their own lives, with three of them succeeding, because of the conditions at the jail.